I heard on the Sell More Books Show that Amazon had opened giveaways to eBooks. It sounded promising, a low-cost way to gather some followers and put my book into the hands of new readers. Here’s what happened and what I learned.
What I Did:
I found the link to set up a giveaway at the bottom of my book’s Amazon page. The form asks for a message to display on the giveaway page and messages to display to winners and losers. I give away a fairy tale to anyone who signs up for my email list so I provided a link to my landing page, letting the losers know they could still “win” something if they signed up for my email list. I kindly asked the winners to leave a review.
You can also select one action entrants must take to enter the giveaway. Options include watching a video, following you on Twitter, or following you on Amazon. Directing them to sign up for your email list is not an option. I chose for people to follow me on Amazon. When I put out a new release, followers should receive an email from Amazon.
You have to purchase the giveaway books at full price. I bought five. Finally, you can select how people will win: random number, every x entrant, or first x entrants. Fearful that no one would enter the giveaway, I chose every fifth person and extended the length of the giveaway an extra week.
After an approval process, Amazon sent me an email with a link to the giveaway page. The best way to market these giveaways is to post a tweet using the AmazonGiveaway hashtag. I also included an image with my tweet. I sent one tweet.
The contest was over in less than an hour. None of the losers joined my mailing list, but I did pick up Amazon followers. I’m hoping at least one or two of the winners will leave a review.
What I Learned:
- Aim high. There will be lots of entrants. For my next experiment, I plan to choose every hundredth entrant. The more entrants, the more Amazon followers you will gather.
- Don’t worry about marketing the giveaway. Just send a tweet.
- You will receive a small sales bump from the books you buy for the giveaway.
- You will receive your standard royalty for the books.
Bottom Line:
This will be a great tool to use in the weeks approaching a new release as all those readers who entered the giveaway will receive an email about your new book. The unanswered question is how discriminating are those giveaway entrants? Are they truly interested in reading your book or are they entering every giveaway they come across with the hope of getting something for free?
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Jeff. I was toying with trying it in the future, now I see better how to make it a useful tool.
Awesome info, Jeff! I’d only heard about the free days of books (or 99-cent) on Amazon and had no idea they did giveaways like GR. I’m a bit horrified you have to purchase the books at full price.
Oh, and I’m liking the new site and the landing page is great!